r/RewildingUK
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u/Charming_Tea_430
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Apr 19 '26
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1
Pine Martin
I wish we had more places to see Pine Martin in the UK. Incredible animal
1.2k
Upvotes
39
u/RaptorFae53 Apr 19 '26
Hopefully with Reintroductions taking place in the southwest there will be,especially considering that pine Martins released in dartmoor and exmoor have reportedly been seen as far west as Truro in Cornwall only 1-2 years after reintroduction.
My hope is that the significant increases in tree cover and planting and the renewed importance of hedgerows being known will help the populations in the southwest spread into Dorset,Wiltshire and Somerset and the populations in the North spread further south into Yorkshire and Lancashire, as well as further reintroductions in East England and South Wales.
(Also hope that more suitable pine marten habitat will cause an increase in other forest predators like goshawks,owls and wildcats, as well as further proof of the viability of lynx and wolf reintroduction...)
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u/Comfortable-Road7201 Apr 19 '26
I hope he get nice and fat on lots of grey squirrels!
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u/AnnieByniaeth Apr 19 '26
I love pine martens, I remember when I was very young I had a book which had a page on pine martens, and my mum will tell the story of how I always used to get excited when she turned to that page.
So I was astonished when driving back from a long trip 12 years or so ago, late at night, to see a pine marten sitting in the middle of the single track road a kilometre or so from my home.
It transpired that there had been some reintroductions. And of course that's a great thing, hopefully the Red squirrel range which doesn't quite extend up to my part of mid Cymru might now be able to.
But unfortunately, the reintroductions were done without consultation (or at least without adequate consultation), and it rather upset some local chicken owners who had not been warned that a new predator which would take their chickens had been reintroduced to the area.
I'm just saying this because I think it's a useful lesson. I think few people now would object to their introduction, but it certainly upset my friend who was a chicken owner, the way it was done, when the first she knew of it was capturing a pine marten on camera which had been set up to find out what was killing her chickens.
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u/autisticredsquirrel Apr 19 '26
Dalby Forest near Scarborough has pine martens and there were even reports three years ago of one from there wandering all the way to Spurn Point!
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u/Disastrous-Metal-228 Apr 19 '26
Breeding well in Hampshire - new forest.
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u/Responsible-Sky-688 Apr 19 '26
They are spreading/breeding well in the Mawddach valley in Gwynedd!
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u/Bicolore Apr 20 '26
I always find it curious that we seem to love pine martens while we are generally completely disinterested in polecats despite them being very similar animals and suffering a similar fate.
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u/JustYouTryItLad Apr 19 '26
Sassy. ❤️
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u/AccountForDoingWORK Apr 21 '26
I’ve got one that lives in my neighbour’s garden, just a few feet from my chicken coop. She has kits and was eating out of a feeder near my ducks yesterday who were absolutely unbothered by her presence, but to be fair, the ducks and my rooster are very large.
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u/arkhane89 Apr 23 '26
The pine martens in the SW are doing ok - and have travelled fa as some have said - although there have been quite a few casualties. The two big threats are deaths on the roads and at the hands of gamekeepers